Biological and social reproductive factors and late-life cognitive function in middle-aged and older Chinese women

IF 11.1 1区医学 Q1 CLINICAL NEUROLOGY

Alzheimer's & Dementia Pub Date : 2025-10-22 DOI:10.1002/alz.70824

Xueqin Li, Wanyu Zhao, Huirong Zheng, Bangshan Liu, Hongbo He, Jin Liu, Ling Jiang Li, Yan Zhang

{"title":"Biological and social reproductive factors and late-life cognitive function in middle-aged and older Chinese women","authors":"Xueqin Li, Wanyu Zhao, Huirong Zheng, Bangshan Liu, Hongbo He, Jin Liu, Ling Jiang Li, Yan Zhang","doi":"10.1002/alz.70824","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div>\n \n \n <section>\n \n <h3> INTRODUCTION</h3>\n \n <p>Few studies have concurrently examined the biological and social reproductive factors in relation to women's cognitive aging.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> METHODS</h3>\n \n <p>We analyzed 8577 women and 7872 men ≥45 years of age from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Biological reproductive factors included reproductive span, age at menarche, and age at menopause; social reproductive factors included number of children and age at first live birth. Multivariable regression models were sequentially adjusted for age, childhood cognition proxy, education, and current health and lifestyle factors.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> RESULTS</h3>\n \n <p>Longer reproductive span was associated with better cognitive performance in women, whereas a higher number of children were linked to poorer cognition in both sexes, particularly in women. These associations remained robust after full adjustment, compared with age at menarche, age at menopause, and age at first birth.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> CONCLUSION</h3>\n \n <p>Integrating biological and social reproductive factors provides insights into sex-specific cognitive aging patterns and may inform tailored dementia prevention strategies.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Highlights</h3>\n \n <div>\n <ul>\n \n <li>A longer reproductive span was linked to better cognition in older Chinese women.</li>\n \n <li>More children were linked to poorer cognition in both sexes, especially in women.</li>\n \n <li>Reproductive span and number of children showed robust associations with late-life cognition, stronger than other reproductive factors.</li>\n </ul>\n </div>\n </section>\n </div>","PeriodicalId":7471,"journal":{"name":"Alzheimer's & Dementia","volume":"21 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":11.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12541285/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Alzheimer's & Dementia","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/alz.70824","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Few studies have concurrently examined the biological and social reproductive factors in relation to women's cognitive aging.

METHODS

We analyzed 8577 women and 7872 men ≥45 years of age from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Biological reproductive factors included reproductive span, age at menarche, and age at menopause; social reproductive factors included number of children and age at first live birth. Multivariable regression models were sequentially adjusted for age, childhood cognition proxy, education, and current health and lifestyle factors.

RESULTS

Longer reproductive span was associated with better cognitive performance in women, whereas a higher number of children were linked to poorer cognition in both sexes, particularly in women. These associations remained robust after full adjustment, compared with age at menarche, age at menopause, and age at first birth.

CONCLUSION

Integrating biological and social reproductive factors provides insights into sex-specific cognitive aging patterns and may inform tailored dementia prevention strategies.

Highlights

A longer reproductive span was linked to better cognition in older Chinese women.
More children were linked to poorer cognition in both sexes, especially in women.
Reproductive span and number of children showed robust associations with late-life cognition, stronger than other reproductive factors.

Abstract Image

查看原文本刊更多论文

中国中老年妇女的生物学和社会生殖因素与晚年认知功能。

引言：很少有研究同时考察与女性认知衰老有关的生物学和社会生殖因素。方法：我们分析了8577名女性和7872名男性≥45岁的中国健康与退休纵向研究。生物生殖因素包括生育期、初潮年龄和绝经年龄；社会生殖因素包括儿童数量和首次活产的年龄。多变量回归模型依次调整年龄、儿童认知代理、教育、当前健康和生活方式等因素。研究结果表明：生育时间越长，女性的认知能力越好，而孩子越多，两性的认知能力就越差，尤其是女性。与初潮年龄、绝经年龄和初产年龄相比，这些相关性在完全调整后仍然很强。结论：结合生物学和社会生殖因素，可以深入了解性别特异性认知衰老模式，并可能为量身定制的痴呆症预防策略提供信息。重点：中国老年女性的生育周期越长，认知能力越好。孩子越多，男女的认知能力就越差，尤其是女性。生育年限和子女数量与晚年认知的相关性强于其他生育因素。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Alzheimer's & Dementia 医学-临床神经学

CiteScore

14.50

自引率

5.00%

发文量

299

审稿时长

3 months

期刊介绍： Alzheimer's & Dementia is a peer-reviewed journal that aims to bridge knowledge gaps in dementia research by covering the entire spectrum, from basic science to clinical trials to social and behavioral investigations. It provides a platform for rapid communication of new findings and ideas, optimal translation of research into practical applications, increasing knowledge across diverse disciplines for early detection, diagnosis, and intervention, and identifying promising new research directions. In July 2008, Alzheimer's & Dementia was accepted for indexing by MEDLINE, recognizing its scientific merit and contribution to Alzheimer's research.